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Abstract

We demonstrate a near-infrared electro-optic modulator with a bandwidth of 3 GHz and a VπL figure of merit of 0.8 V-cm using a push-pull configuration. This is the highest operating speed achieved in a silicon-polymer hybrid system to date by several orders of magnitude. The modulator was fabricated from a silicon strip-loaded slot waveguide and clad in a nonlinear polymer. In this geometry, the electrodes form parts of the waveguide, and the modulator driving voltage drops across a 200 nm slot.

Figures (4)

(a) The diagram of the silicon slot waveguide as used in the Mach-Zehnder modulator described in this work. The modal pattern near 1550nm is plotted; contours of |Ex| are shown (x-axis is assumed to be parallel to the substrate and perpendicular to the propagation direction). (b) SEM micrograph of the cross-section of a strip-loaded slot waveguide.

Transmission through the Mach–Zehnder device as a function of wavelength, for various modulator drive voltages. As can be seen, 2 V bias suggested the direction of spectrum shift, 8 V bias was slightly above Vπ voltage.

The frequency dependence of the device: 6 dB rolloff in S21 occurred around 3 GHz. The corresponding normalized S21 of 8 V Vπ is also plotted in the same axis. The inset graph shows the response from 200 MHz to 6 GHz, in which the −6 dB rolloff appears around 3 GHz.